Cal Newport, A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload (2021)

Call me a Cal Newport fan. I was drawn to this book because I have increasingly found myself overwhelmed at work by the sheer variety and frequency of claims on my attention, much of which comes through email. And I had heard good things about Newport from my wife. The book didn't disappoint. Newport is an unusually gifted individual - an expert in one field (computer science, distributed systems, in particular), but also knowledgeable about the business world, widely read, and, crucially, a talented communicator. Newport makes the case that the "hive mind" enabled by email is bad for productivity and bad for our peace of mind. He provides an interesting, multifaceted account of the reasons for email's rise to ubiquity: evolutionarily, we are predisposed to hive-mind communication, but in small groups (think of a hunting expedition in which many small adjustments have to be made in real time); knowledge work, as Peter Drucker claimed, relies on individual autonomy, seemingly precluding centralized control; finally, various vicious circles (such as the "tragedy of the attention commons" - once one person begins expecting a rapid response to email messages, it's only natural that one respond in kind) cemented email's grip. Perhaps most valuably, Newport argues that this hive mind workflow is not something fated and unavoidable. He offers many suggestions, illustrated by accounts of bold experimenters in the business world, for how an organization or individual can minimize and even abandon email (and Slack), thereby rediscovering focus. Next up in my Newport queue: Digital Minimalism, which I think captures my philosophy or, at least, aspiration.